Growth

The day was passing by quickly. It felt like barely 10 minutes ago that Fareed was walking down to the station. And now it seems like the world has grown so much larger, and he has met three new friends already. They had left the station a long time back. Alistair and Jasper were reminiscing over drinks and food at a nearby pub. Fareed, on the other hand, was leading Felix and Isaac further into the city of Arteria, past the storehouses and the shops and towards the fields.

After quite a bit of silent walking, Felix spoke up, “I’m sorry, mister…?”

“Hmm…?” Fareed looked back, unsure how to answer.

“Uhm… what do we call you? Or rather, is Mr Fareed okay with you?”

“Huh? Oh yes… Fareed is fine, you don’t have to use ‘mister’”

“Ah, I meant did you have a family name?”

“Oh! No, I don’t.”

Felix was taken aback by the answer, but he kept walking.

Isaac took his turn now. “Uhm, where are we headed?”

“Where I work. Mr Alistair told me to take you there to inspect the progress of our commission. He and Mr Jasper would be back to pick you up later.”

By this point, they were walking among the fields. The farmers who tended and watched over the fields in the evening were heading back home, and the farmers who would do it over the night were heading to their posts.

“Where will you be staying the night?” Fareed asked his two companions

“I believe Mr Alistair will be having us as his guests,” Felix said.

“Either that, or we will have to walk all the way back to the station,” Isaac added.

Hearing that, Fareed stopped in his tracks. “Oh… I feel like it would be better to check on the progress tomorrow, then. Walking back in the dark can be a hassle.”

“Well, it seems like we are halfway there already. May as well go all the way and be done with it today,” Felix said.

“Besides, I’m sure we can find some lodgings even in the mining district,” Isaac concluded.

Fareed took another look at their fine clothing and well-groomed selves. “But… I worry that it may not be up to your standards.”

Felix glanced at Fareed and caught him looking at his clothes. He chuckled. “Ah, we can manage, these clothes may exude a certain level of standard. But I assure you, we do not wear clothes like these all the time. Or rather we cannot.”

Fareed turned to the twins. “Why not?”

“Practicality,” Isaac piped in, “Imagine living on the convoy in these suffocating clothes. This is a wide-open field with plenty of wind, and I would still much rather be wearing my more casual and baggier clothing.”

“Indeed,” Felix agreed, “We wear these clothes only to appear professional. It’s a part of our lives we are still working on fully accepting.”

Fareed caught two interesting details from that conversation. “Hold on, you said living on the convoy?”

“Yes. Technically, we are members of the convoy’s crew. Currently, we help with the administration of the convoy and the rest of its crew.” Felix answered.

“Administration? At your age? Even the youngest member of Mr Alistair’s company is much older than I am.”

“Well, I suppose it helps that we had experience working as de facto representatives even at a young age,” Isaac answered. “Well, rather Felix did. He was the one who handled the talking.”

“Oh please, Isaac,” Felix started, “I wouldn’t have known what to say in the first place if it wasn’t because of you telling me. You’re more suited to this work than I am, give yourself some credit!”

“And like I always tell you, just knowing does not do anyone any good. Being able to say it and impress is what matters. And you speak infinitely better than I can.”

No sooner had Fareed realised than Felix and Isaac were bickering on who between the two of them could uplift the other more.

He waited for their arguing to lull before interjecting, “Erm… I’m sorry to interrupt, but I have another question.”

Felix let out a heavy sigh, “Ah yes, of course. What is it?”

“Well, it just confuses me… Mr Jasper said that the two of you were his sons. And yet, the way you describe your lives does not sound like what I have heard the children of noblemen live like.”

“Ah…” Felix said, chuckling again.

“That’s because we are not Jasper’s children.” Isaac replied, “Well, not by blood.”

“Really?” Fareed said.

“Yes, we picked up our diplomatic skills in our old orphanage. We spend the last two weeks of every month making crafts that would be sold in our colony’s marketplace. Isaac and I would then go with our caretakers to the marketplace to help with the sales.” Felix said.

“We met Jasper during one of those sales. And he was so impressed by our haggling that he offered to take us in as his proteges.”

“Oh! That sounds very much like me.” Fareed replied.

“Really? How so?” Felix asked.

“Mr Alistair took me in too. I was an orphan living with a mining family. I initially started working in Mr Alistair’s smithy about five years ago, first as an apprentice forger. Then as my magical abilities became more pronounced and I better understood how to control them, I started working as a machinist.”

“Oh! You’re a mage?” Isaac perked up as he heard this new information.

“I am.” Fareed replied.

“What is your affinity?” Isaac asked.

“Affinity?” Fareed asked back.

“As in how do you use your powers? What can you do with them?”

“Oh… Hmmm… I’ve never really thought about it,” Fareed said, turning his head to ponder. “I suppose… It helps me move and reshape things in ways I would not be able to otherwise. It also helps me reach out and study things, even if I cannot see them directly.”

“Ah, so some form of material manipulation then,” Isaac said.

“Oh, I did not know what ‘affinity’ meant,” Fareed said.

“It is how people classify a mage’s abilities,” Isaac explained. “I would go on about this topic, but I do not believe this is the time for it.”

As this conversation came to an end, the three boys arrived at the smithy once again. Work in the smithy was dying down. Some of the workers were left cleaning down the work stations and putting stray tools back. The foreman was also staying behind, overseeing the cleaning and clutching onto some papers.

“Oh, welcome back, Fareed. Where is Mr Alistair?” The foreman asked.

“He’s still in the colony, speaking with the client, who happens to be an old friend of his,” Fareed answered.

“Ah, I see. And who are these young men?”

“They’re acquaintances of mine, and associates of our client.”

“Ah! Welcome welcome. We were just in the middle of closing shop for tonight, but is there anything I can help with, mister…?”

“Felix Vachell, but you can call me Felix, and this is my brother Isaac,” Felix answered.

“Pleasure to meet you.” Isaac chimed in.

“And we were asked to check on the progress of the commission,” Felix continued.

“Ah, yes of course,” The foreman placed the papers he was clutching onto down, “if you will follow me. Fareed? Can you mind my workstation while I show them?”

“Of course, sir.” No sooner had the words left his mouth than the three people left towards the storage to check on the iron beams.

Fareed had never been in the workshop after it had closed. Lamps, both of fire and glow crystals, kept the place relatively well lit even in the dark. Left to himself in an environment that was usually so noisy and lively, his thoughts sounded much louder than they usually did. Mr Alistair’s question once again rang in his mind.

“Fareed, what do you intend to achieve here?”

The question terrified him in the afternoon, and it terrified him now. He had never really thought about it. To him, his life was always tied to the workshop and Arteria. But in a single day, he was first asked if his world could be bigger and then shown that it absolutely could be. The prospect both enticed and scared him.

What was beyond the workshop?

Beyond the fields?

Beyond the houses, shops and warehouses?

Beyond the station?

Beyond Arteria?

He shook his head and reached into his pocket, pulling out a small circular piece of metal, the size of a coin. It was the first piece of metal he had shaped entirely with his abilities, and he often turned it with and without his magic to calm his mind. He turned to the token as he levitated it up and spiralled it over his palm. Why did Mr Alistair ask him that question?

As he thought that, someone tapped his shoulder. Turning around, he saw Mr Alistair. Startled, he almost dropped his token.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you…” Alistair started.

“Mr Alistair… I don’t know what I want anymore…”

Fareed made the statement more or less without realising what he was saying. The air around him suddenly felt heavy. Mr Jasper was right behind Mr Alistair. The foreman, Felix, and Isaac had just returned. Mr Alistair stopped speaking; his arm was still on Fareed’s shoulder. Fareed turned away, unsure of what else he could say.

“Fareed… could I speak to you in my office?” Alistair started.

He nodded. Mr Alistair took him by the shoulder, and they both walked up the stairs and into the office. Fareed slumped down into one of the chairs. Mr Alistair poured out a glass of water and then went and sat beside him.

“Water?” Mr Alistair asked.

“No, thank you,” Fareed replied.

Mr Alistair left it on his desk in front of Fareed, who had still not looked up.

“Are you feeling pressured by my question earlier today?” Alistair asked.

Fareed turned his head to Alistair, but still did not look up, “Well… I… I don’t know. I was happy to stay here, but after going to the station and listening to Felix and Isaac… I don’t know anymore.”

Alistair took a moment to compose himself. “Say, Fareed…” he started, “Haven’t you wondered where I came from?”

Fareed looked up to Alistair. Alistair continued, “I was living a peaceful life in a colony far away from this one. But it always felt… empty.” Fareed saw the spark in Alistair’s eyes disappear again. “My life felt… scripted. I would be told how to act, make very specific friends, what I would be when I grow up…” He snorted, “Hmm, I suppose it was scripted.” Alistair looked down, “I felt like I would never amount to anything besides the bird in a cage that I was being raised to be.”

“And that’s when I met Jasper Vachell.” Alistair looked up, his eyes still dull, but a smile had returned. “Jasper was an entrepreneur at that time, I would assist him in his work, failures that they were. But working with him, I got to see what it was like beyond that cage. When he gave up on his endeavours to find a more stable line of work in the locomotives, he asked me to join him. I did.” Fareed watched the spark return, as Alistair now positively beamed. “And I never looked back, because I could never go back to living in a cage.”

“That is what I want for you, Fareed.”

“Sir?”

“I see in you what I was all those years ago.” Alistair put his hand on his shoulder, “A boy who lives life contentedly as it comes to him. Now I may be wrong, in which case, I would be more than happy to have you here for as long as you like. But today, watching you, how you are reacting to all this… I think you may want more as well.”

“But… Am I allowed to have more? I’d be leaving you all behind. I don’t want to.” Fareed said.

“You won’t have to leave us behind. You can go out there and find the world. And whether you decide you belong there or not, Arteria, this smithy and I will be right here waiting for you.”

Fareed looked up slightly misty-eyed. Alistair firmed his grip on his shoulder. “You do remind me of me. This was the other thing I wanted to tell you. Jasper’s convoy is in need of crew members, and I think you should go with them.”

“But… Am I needed there?” Fareed asked.

“I spoke with Jasper about this already, and he was excited at the prospect, and it seemed like you, Felix and Isaac are getting along well too. You will find your place.”

Fareed looked back over his shoulder towards Mr Jasper, Felix and Isaac downstairs, in conversation amongst themselves. “And if I don’t want to go, or if I want to come back?”

“You will always have a place here,” Alistair replied.

Fareed took a moment, peering at his token, before gripping it tightly and turning back to Alistair, his eyes much clearer.

“What do you say?” Alistair asked.

Fareed reminisced on that moment of his life; it had been four long years. He was twirling the token in his hand, resting his shoulder on an open door to a carriage. The wheels were kicking up dust, but Fareed had learned to keep the dust out and away from himself and the door. He looked out to the horizon, watching nothing in particular.

He felt his signal stone pulse by his chest, momentarily taking it into his hand to make sure that it was shining as well, before getting up and closing the door behind him. Time to get to work, the locomotive needs to keep moving, and it was up to him to make sure it does.